Aids Antibodies

Doctors failed to detect an AIDS-related virus in an accident victim whose organs were used in transplants because massive transfusions masked the telltale antibodies, officials said Friday.''After every organ procurement we learn something,'' said Roger Rollman, a spokesman for Bowman Gray-Baptist Hospital Medical Center. ''In this particular instance, we have obviously learned and we shall make changes in our procedures as required.''The incident involved Joseph Odell Evans, 30, who received 58 pints of blood at Moses H. Cone Memorial Hospital after a traffic injury Aug. 16. Evans was declared brain dead two days later and his family approved the organ donations.

Last month, a dozen Volusia County residents found out they have AIDS. Most of them are homosexual or bisexual, white and male.But among those who tested positive for AIDS antibodies this year - many of whom likely will develop the deadly disease within 10 years - less than a quarter were exposed through homosexual activity.The future victims of acquired immune deficiency syndrome in Volusia County are younger, poorer and less educated than those in the past, state Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services statistics show.

In what court veterans described as an Orange County first, a judge ordered a prostitute temporarily jailed without bail Thursday because she has been diagnosed as a potential AIDS carrier.County Judge George Sprinkel said he feared the 22-year-old Orlando woman, who has a five-year history of arrests and convictions for prostitution, may give the fatal disease to others if she were released.However, he asked for a medical opinion on whether the woman would pose a risk and said he would reconsider his decision once he got the opinion, probably next week.

FALSE AIDS DIAGNOSIS. A woman who planned her funeral, endured taunts and lost friends after a mistaken AIDS diagnosis has filed a complaint against the hospital and doctors who performed the tests. ''It should never have happened and I don't think it ever ought to happen again,'' Gayla Gray said. Gray was tested for AIDS antibodies when she did not respond to antibiotics prescribed to treat her peritonitis. The first test was positive, as was a second, more sophisticated test. A year and a month later, doctors discovered those tests were wrong.

The Manatee County School Board ruled Friday that a 7-year-old boy who carries the AIDS antibodies will be admitted to regular classes at Oneco Elementary School.Christopher Case, a hemophiliac, was taken out of school last February when it was learned he carried the antibodies. He was taught at home the rest of last school year.It had been expected he would be admitted to Oneco Elementary, between Sarasota and Bradenton, when school opened Aug. 24. But the board denied admission and his parents sued in U.S. District Court in Tampa to force his admission and for damages.

REPORTING AIDS CASES. When the Canadian Medical Association meets next month, one topic on the agenda is sure to cause a stir: Mandatory reporting of anyone who tests positive for the AIDS virus, in addition to tracing that person's sexual contacts. The proposals were drafted by the association's council on health care as ways to control the spread of the disease and protect hospital workers. The council wants anyone who tests positive for AIDS antibodies to be reported to provincial health officials.

It wasn't enough for a group of Arcadia parents to ostracize the Ray family until they fled. Now these parents are in Sarasota to brew up more hysteria against a family trying to overcome the stigma of AIDS.Clifford and Louise Ray left Arcadia after an arsonist destroyed their home just five days after their three sons, who had been exposed to AIDS, started school. They went to Sarasota to put it all behind them. But Arcadia keeps hounding them.An Arcadia group called Citizens Against AIDS is telling Sarasota parents not to believe medical experts, to ignore the studies and keep the Rays out of school despite Sarasota's sensible policy on the disease.

Federal, state and local public health officials, meeting Wednesday to evaluate the effectiveness of the new AIDS blood-screening test, overwhelmingly declared it a success in protecting the nation's blood supply. ''I believe the blood supply is quite safe,'' said Dr. James Curran, chief of the AIDS branch of the federal Centers for Disease Control. ''I think people shouldn't avoid elective surgery or be unnecessarily afraid of getting blood transfusions because of AIDS.''Likewise, other public health officials described the test as highly accurate in detecting blood donors with AIDS antibodies -- those who have been exposed to the AIDS virus.

As more people die from AIDS, life insurance companies will begin screening potential customers more carefully, an industry executive said Friday.''If you apply for a life insurance policy, you're more likely to have your blood studied to determine whether or not you're carrying AIDS antibodies,'' said J. Stephen Beckman, preident of United Investors Life Insurance Co. of Birmingham, Ala.Beckman, in Orlando to discuss insurance trends with financial planners...

FALSE AIDS DIAGNOSIS. A woman who planned her funeral, endured taunts and lost friends after a mistaken AIDS diagnosis has filed a complaint against the hospital and doctors who performed the tests. ''It should never have happened and I don't think it ever ought to happen again,'' Gayla Gray said. Gray was tested for AIDS antibodies when she did not respond to antibiotics prescribed to treat her peritonitis. The first test was positive, as was a second, more sophisticated test. A year and a month later, doctors discovered those tests were wrong.

People at high risk of catching AIDS may silently harbor the AIDS virus inside their bodies for years while appearing on standard blood tests to be free of infection, researchers reported Wednesday.A new study, published in the Boston-based New England Journal of Medicine, found that one-fourth of a group of homosexual men who engaged in risky sex were infected but produced none of the telltale antibodies that ordinarily are the hallmark of exposure to the AIDS virus.Health officials check for such antibodies, which are produced by the body in reaction to an infection, to make sure blood transfusions and transplant organs are free of the lethal virus.

The 19-year-old woman thought she was going to die last April when the attacker forced her from her car, blindfolded her, repeatedly raped her and convinced her six other men were waiting to hurt her if she didn't cooperate.Eight months later, the woman learned some shattering news: She really could die because of the rape.A regular sexual partner of the rapist revealed during his sentencing that she had tested positive for AIDS antibodies. That raises the possibility that the rapist and the victim were exposed to the deadly AIDS virus.

It wasn't enough for a group of Arcadia parents to ostracize the Ray family until they fled. Now these parents are in Sarasota to brew up more hysteria against a family trying to overcome the stigma of AIDS.Clifford and Louise Ray left Arcadia after an arsonist destroyed their home just five days after their three sons, who had been exposed to AIDS, started school. They went to Sarasota to put it all behind them. But Arcadia keeps hounding them.An Arcadia group called Citizens Against AIDS is telling Sarasota parents not to believe medical experts, to ignore the studies and keep the Rays out of school despite Sarasota's sensible policy on the disease.

The Manatee County School Board ruled Friday that a 7-year-old boy who carries the AIDS antibodies will be admitted to regular classes at Oneco Elementary School.Christopher Case, a hemophiliac, was taken out of school last February when it was learned he carried the antibodies. He was taught at home the rest of last school year.It had been expected he would be admitted to Oneco Elementary, between Sarasota and Bradenton, when school opened Aug. 24. But the board denied admission and his parents sued in U.S. District Court in Tampa to force his admission and for damages.

Kudos to Sarasota County for devising an AIDS policy for the schools that aims to end the hysteria surrounding this disease. It couldn't have come at a better time. The Sarasota policy presents state officials with a good model for statewide guidelines.The Sarasota County School Board began studying the AIDS issue in February, working closely with the U.S. surgeon general's office. What emerged is a policy that guarantees all AIDS-infected students and school employees access to school unless medical evidence indicates a clear danger to themselves or others.

By now everyone in America knows the Ray family has left Arcadia for good. Their DeSoto County home ravaged by a suspicious fire, Clifford and Louise Ray took their three hemophiliac sons exposed to the AIDS virus away from the town that shunned them.And all because of AIDS hysteria.Ironically in another Arcadia, students welcomed 15-year-old Ryan White, a hemophiliac who suffers from AIDS, to an Indiana high school this week. There were no class boycotts, no bomb scares, no death threats, no fires.

About one-fourth of the Orange County jail inmates examined for exposure to AIDS under new jail procedures may have AIDS antibodies, according to jail and county health department figures.Under the policy started last month, incoming prisoners who fit into known AIDS high-risk groups -- intravenous drug users, homosexuals and some prostitutes -- are tested to see whether AIDS antibodies are in their blood. Acquired immune deficiency syndrome destroys the body's ability to fight other diseases.

In Arcadia, three hemophiliac brothers exposed to the AIDS virus have been allowed to attend public school despite bomb threats and a parents' boycott.In Tampa, a 5-year-old retarded girl with the AIDS-related complex who has no control over bodily functions has been barred from school.In both of these cases, common sense prevailed in deciding whether or not these children should be admitted to school. The judges who wound up with the cases after the school boards refused to admit the students based their sound rulings on the most recent medical facts and recommendations.

REPORTING AIDS CASES. When the Canadian Medical Association meets next month, one topic on the agenda is sure to cause a stir: Mandatory reporting of anyone who tests positive for the AIDS virus, in addition to tracing that person's sexual contacts. The proposals were drafted by the association's council on health care as ways to control the spread of the disease and protect hospital workers. The council wants anyone who tests positive for AIDS antibodies to be reported to provincial health officials.